Victor Engineering Charger Setup Question

[makoman1860]

@thepistol Awesome thank you

i never had a 3000 so i was going off some 2000 info i kind of remembered.

if you want a more stable test then just run one test at a time with about 4 hours between.

the cell has to go back to room temperature and internally stabilize.

the 3000 appears to be much better then my old IQ was,, not counting the IQ flex i repaired a couple weeks ago.

also make sure you discharge the cell to your preset cutoff right before charge. so if you are going for a .9 cut off.
then let the cell recover for the cooling off stabilize period (4 hours is just a generic time i noticed that the cells went back fully to room temp).
when ready discharge to cutoff say .9 again, then start the cycle.

this way you make sure the cell is at the same level before the start of each test.
usually the second test in the 4 hour window shows the better internal resistance and some MAH loss.
if you want a more equal test then you have to go for 12-24 hours rest between.

Yeah I know.....I was just too darn impatient If I was really wanting to nitpick id just program a load bank to simulate a cell.....eh thats going too crazy. So my personal verdict is that they are pretty comparable in performance and accuracy. I never did much with the old victor back in the day, and now I see after messing around with the programming, that I was only using about 50% of its ability. If the thing had a cooling fan that would solve about 90% of its problems. I know they offered one, anyone have a picture of it? Im guessing its just a muffin fan but I would like to make it look factory. The CE has the edge in cooling and simpler programming.

[thepistol]

makoman, you are correct in that not having a fan probably being the major cause of failure with the Victors. I updated all my Victors with fans years ago (I've got a couple Maxtec/Victor IQ3000's, and some Super2-IQ's/Super-IQ's, and even a Quad-IQ). I've got fans integrated into all of them. Been using them for the last 14+ years with only one failure, which was repaired by a guru in Canada years ago. Just got to keep them cool & clean! I can probably get some pics to you if you need. And I'd have to disagree with you on the ease of programming compared to the CE. I find the Victors much easier to program and understand. I've had a few CE chargers in the past, and sold all but one, which just sits in a box now. But to each his own

[makoman1860]

Yeah the more I re-learn the Victor.....its really pretty straightforward. The CE I am using has the improved menus so its pretty nice. Yes I would love to see your fan installs!
-Aaron

[tamiyadan]

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[makoman1860]

Yes this by far has been the best place! In all honesty both of these are much easier to use that say a Schulze charger. The Orbit and Schulze chargers were some of the most advanced out there but never seemed to catch on here in the USA for surface use. R/C flying hobbies used them like crazy though, but that was more for getting long run times and long life from more fragile cell designs. Amazing what we used to spend on these things that now sell for pennies on ebay.

[thepistol]

This is my IQ3000 with a fan added to the heatsink. This was done by drilling and tapping 2 holes in the heatsink, and then using long screws to attach the fan. There is another hole drilled to run the power wires thru.

The fan was mounted in the center on this one because its been modified with additional FETs on the left side of the heatsink (to handle heavy-duty discharging).

[thepistol]

The fan was added to this one by using aluminum tubing which I tap threaded on each end. A small piece of 4-40 rod is threaded into one side, with maybe 1/4" sticking out. That end is threaded into the drilled & tapped heatsink side, then the fan is slid on the tubing to attach it.

[thepistol]

And yet another way to attach a fan.....

[makoman1860]

Very nice! I like the re-location of a second set of power input jacks as well. Of course now that you mentioned the extra fets on the discharge side.......you need to elaborate I picked up a pair of 50mm muffins and will add them, but those extra fets are looking darn tempting........

P.S. Nice Lipo conversion. Not that I advocate that chemistry of course

[thepistol]

Sorry, I can't take credit for those extra FETs. Those were added by a guy named Sam Capri in Canada many years ago, and they are beyond my expertise or knowledge. They are soldered to a custom pc board strip he made. That IQ3000 also has a custom 2-in-1 eprom with the IQ3000 and Pro-Matcher Cell Grading software by him. They are accessed by flipping the toggle switch (with the power off of course) to the left of the main pc board. The switch is just barely reachable thru one of the side vents of the faceplate cover, so its not easily flipped by accident. I've also got another IQ3000 with a 3-in-1 eprom from Sam (IQ3000/Super-IQ/Promatch softwares). Sam was the master. Sadly, I do not believe he is dealing with them anymore, as his website has been gone for probably 6-7 years.

The lipo integration was done by me on the Super, just for the hell of it (people at the track have no idea what the heck it is )
Like you, I loved messing with the NiCad/Nimh cells, but damn lipos are unbeatable

[tamiyadan]

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